Social Enterprise Design & Growth

Social enterprises operate in almost every industry, from utilities to social care, retail to media, housing to education. Their ethos is to have a positive socioeconomic impact on communities.

ARK Consultancy provides support to individuals and businesses to turn an idea into reality. We help create new social enterprise businesses, as well as grow existing ones.

The measurement of the social impact of business activity is increasingly important in both the public and private sector. Stakeholders want to know how businesses support the communities in which they work, and the value of that support. ARK Consultancy works with organisations to create measures which can be evaluated to evidence outcomes, outputs and the social return on investment for each £1 invested.

Our specialist consultants offer a range of services, including:

Comprehensive options appraisal of business models

Competitor analysis

Work to develop a business case

Identification and support of bids and applications for revenue and/or funding streams

Training and mentoring

Business coaching

Development of business plans for charities.

Our portfolio of work includes:

Setting up a new charity, Academy 4 Housing, in London on behalf of four registered housing providers

Supporting a group of tenants and residents to start up a local community café in Liverpool

Setting up Handylink, a handyperson social enterprise in Gloucester

Developing a social impact framework and measuring the outcomes for Talent Match Black Country, a £10 million project supported by the Big Lottery Fund

Measuring the training, employment and community social impact outcomes achieved through a procurement membership